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Spotlight: Batman - The Black Mirror Hardcover

A closer look at why this arc was well deserved to be collected in the prestige hardcover format.

Without a doubt, Batman: The Black Mirror was one of my favorite story arcs this year. There are many great Batman stories being told but this arc stood out from the rest. Despite owning each individual issue, I knew halfway through the arc that it would be one I would have to own in hardcover.

This final run of DETECTIVE COMICS before DC relaunched the DC Universe with 'The New 52' was a surprise on many levels. Besides the surprise of how good the stories were, it is responsible for establishing many important things.

The first deals with Dick Grayson finally showing he was worthy to wear the cowl of Batman. When Bruce Wayne was thought to have died, there was a question of who, if anyone, should step in and take his place as the Dark Knight. The logical choice was Dick, even though he didn't feel it was what he was meant to do.

In his early stories dressed as Batman, it never felt right. It was difficult to accept Dick as Batman. We saw him jumping around more (because of his acrobatic fighting style) and even cracking a smile on several occasions. I always felt this was because he was caught up in the thrill of actually being Batman.

It was Scott Snyder's depiction of Dick as Batman that made it believable. You could get the sense that Dick finally got over the fun of it and evolved into becoming Batman. His actions and behavior became a little darker as he moved and spoke the way Bruce would. It helped that we had an extremely dark story that Dick was immersed in. Dick was finally growing into the type of hero that Gotham City required.

The second major thing this arc showed us was how great of a writer Scott Snyder was. This literally caught me off guard. I have to admit I wasn't aware of Snyder's writing prior but immediately became a fan and raved about DETECTIVE COMICS each month on our podcast when a new issue was released.

Snyder has the ability to fully tell a story on many different levels. There is always a hidden layer of darkness beneath an already dark surface. We've seen stories where we know that 'anything goes' but with Snyder, that truly was the case.

Snyder also did the unthinkable in some ways. He introduced some concepts and character development that didn't seem as if they should be allowed. It's the way he did it that made it remarkable. Because there still might be those that haven't read the arc, I won't go into specifics and spoil things but doing things like bringing back the crowbar that Joker used to killed Jason Todd, re-introducing James Gordon Jr in a completely unexpected fashion or even giving us a different take on the Joker are just some of what makes this book stand out.

Great stories are complimented even further when they are accompanied by great art. I'm not normally a fan of collected stories having multiple artists but both Jock and Francesco Francavilla made a superb story even better. With their different styles, each added a copious amount of detail and fully captured the mood and vibe Snyder's script called for. Francavilla's art normally gives me a feeling of happiness but seeing the way he drew James Jr and the colors mixed in gave such a disturbing feeling, even if he was innocently smiling. One of my favorite scenes is when Commissioner Gordon was in the diner asking, "What did you do?!?"

Surprisingly, this isn't your typical Batman story. Many might expect Batman fighting the wondrous villains in his rogues gallery but this was an adventure on a more cerebral level filled with suspense and drama that would chill you to the bones. I always liked Dick Grayson as a character but it was Snyder that made me love him as Batman. The only complaint I have is you're left with a feeling at the end that the door has been opened to an incredible new world and Dick has been given a new door to go through. A tiny bit of that feels lost after the 'New 52' began.

There is also a slight difference in the quality of the presentation. The art manages to look even better on the pages in this hardcover. I noticed some panels having a tiny difference in color. For as dark of a story this is, it's still surprising how colorful it can be at times as well.

There are some special features included. It's not just a straight forward collection of issues you might (and should) already own. Included are cover sketches by both Jock and Francavilla, unused cover sketches, Francavilla's mini-comic that got him the job with Mike Marts, early character designs for James Gordon Jr., page layout developments and the first draft script for Skeleton Cases Part One from DETECTIVE COMICS #871 that was the introduction of James Jr.

The Black Mirror is my favorite Batman story of the year. This is a story you'll want to read over and over in order to try to analyze all the intricate details Snyder manages to sneak in. Jock and Francavilla's art is also something you'll want to just sit and stare at. Looking at the way they lay out the pages and the character designs is almost like taking an art lesson. When stories are collected, some times they skip the hardcover treatment and go straight to trade paperback. This story clearly deserves the hardcover treatment and also deserves to be included in your personal collection.

I am currently reading it. Never been much of a DC guy but this story is incredible. I have read past Batman trades, and Dick as batman is a completely different take and I love it. I wish his run would have been longer. A must read and at around $35 not a bad price for a hardback.

Just made me cry. Why I had to stop reading comics when my favorite character ever is Batman is beyond me. Sigh.

He was Batman for, like, two years or so. You should go back and check out Batman & Robin #1-16 (also collected in hardcovers) as well as The Black Mirror. They were both basically incredible (although, arguably, 3 of the Batman & Robin issues were crap...and that was the Blackest Knight stuff).

Just made me cry. Why I had to stop reading comics when my favorite character ever is Batman is beyond me. Sigh.

He was Batman for, like, two years or so. You should go back and check out Batman & Robin #1-16 (also collected in hardcovers) as well as The Black Mirror. They were both basically incredible (although, arguably, 3 of the Batman & Robin issues were crap...and that was the Blackest Knight stuff).

I read all of Batman and Robin, or close to it. I also read it at the time, I just didn't read most of the Batman/Detective stuff towards the end.

I bought this after getting hooked on Snyder's Detective run with Capullo, and was pleasantly surprised at the sheer synergy between the writing and the art. It was a masterful stroke to have Jock pencil the Dick segments and Francavilla pencil the Gordon segments. If I had to pick the definitive Dick Grayson arc, I'd choose this over Morrison's Batman and Robin run any day of the week. Seriously, it's that good.

@spikespeigel: Seems it's becoming more common. They're giving the LCS a chance to sell them before the big chain/discount places do. You get to support your local shop and get it a week or so early.

That's good. I like that. It will definitely prove to counter balance the fact that a lot of this industry seems to be shipping towards the digital side. It gives the LCSs a chance to fight against bigger shops and the digital medium [albeit the fact that they are competing with the digital medium through different means, since Trades aren't available on the web.]

@damswedon: I second this! I'm always looking for trades that slipped by me to add to my collection.

Not just that but the article reads like something you might find in a print magazine not on the Internet. Now don't get me wrong I like the Internet, I don't know if you know this but the Internet is kinda great. But it is good to have some kind of mixture in what the site puts up. I know this is the kind of thing that takes more time to make but it was a good read. I feel like there is a narrative in the article, it isn't complex (it is just dude I like this and here is why) but that is a skill that I feel just doesn't exist in a lot of Internet journalism.

I picked this up as my Christmas present to me this year, and goddamn was it ever good. I didn't really start hearing about the book when he was writing it until about halfway through, so I ended up waiting for te trade to read it for the first time. Cannot wait to read his current run on Batman in trade as well.

He was Batman for, like, two years or so. You should go back and check out Batman & Robin #1-16 (also collected in hardcovers) as well as The Black Mirror. They were both basically incredible (although, arguably, 3 of the Batman & Robin issues were crap...and that was the Blackest Knight stuff).

I liked the Snyder run better the Morrisons. I think this run really impressed a lot of people and that's what made it so good. I think Dick grew into Batman a lot more here then in Batman and Robin. When I was reading Batman and Robin I always had that little thing telling me it wasn't Bruce and that as good as Dick was(is) he was just a little bit short of Batman. Not here in Snyders run. Here in Snyders run he WAS Batman. It felt like he had been Batman for years. He seemed older, wiser. more experienced.

This is just simple character development. Snyder's run takes place and was published after Morrison's run on the character.

You can like one more than the other of course but I find it very weird to judge the two on that specific criterion. It would have been out of character for Dick to fit the part right away and that is why Morrison depicted him this way.

@damswedon: @spikespeigel: I'm actually planning a couple more for this week. Another will go up shortly. I'm a huge sucker for hardcovers. With all the ones I eventually buy, I would love to do more of these. I know the trade buyers are almost a completely different audience and would love to reach out to them as well. That was my original intention when I came up with the idea for the Trading Views video segment. If I buy 'em, I might as well share why I dig 'em, right?

@G-Man: I was a single issue buyer turned trade buyer for a few years myself. I would pick up the trades because of budget reasons as well as I just got sick of having so many damn single issues and I love to re-read my books a lot and liked having one story in arm length. I got into a lot more titles this way too. Checking what was considered a good story. Now if I like a particular story a lot, I'll pick up the trades for them for re-reading. Old Man Logan, Second Coming, Remenders complete Uncanny X-Force etc. This run I'll pick up with out a doubt. Loved it. Great idea pushing some trades. Once it's out for a while I think it'll be considered a thick trade to go along with Long Holloween and Dark Victory. Something about it.